Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
[Commentary] Unions: they're the folks that brought you the weekend. And today, May Day, we should be celebrating them. Unfortunately on this day of solidarity with working people everywhere, it seems we’ve got a lot more work ahead of us before the party can begin.
May Day, which falls on May 1st of every year, is recognized as a day to celebrate progressive movements around the world. Here in the United States, it stands as memory to those that were arrested and executed for their participation in what has become known as the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago when striking workers clashed with police to deadly effect.
Now in 21st century Iowa, working families are still fighting against entrenched interests to gain the protection they deserve. Fair Share, a sensible bill that would have made public employees getting the benefits of union activity pay for said benefits (thus dispensing with the free rider problem) never even came to a floor vote in the Iowa House, despite being passed by the Senate. The solid Republican opposition and handful of wavering Democrats posed a large enough obstacle to block the legislation. [In fact, not only does the Iowa GOP actively subvert working families, they’re spiteful about it. Check out this post from Iowa Progress about their attempt to ruin May Day.]
On the federal level, Democrats are looking to pass card-check legislation but according to the Des Moines Register, Senator Tom Harkin has said that Democrats might not have the votes to override a filibuster in the Senate, and President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation if passed. Called the “Employee Free Choice Act,” the bill would allow workers to automatically form a union once a simple majority of cards were signed in favor of unionizing, rather than require a formal election which allows workers to be intimidated before voting. Card check would be a great step forward in helping to revitalize the labor movement that has declined over the years.
Supporting unions is good policy and politics. In this increasingly volatile economy, unions are often the only ones there to make sure workers get a fair shake. If we want to help working families across the state and country, we need to help unions survive. And in terms of politics, who do you think is knocking all those doors, driving people to the polls, donating those dollars? It’s unions. For real change to happen in this country, we need to rebuild labor; it’s the backbone of any progressive movement. I’m obviously not the first to note this (check out this MyDD interview with the unionized nurses of Iowa City), but on this May Day, let’s recognize our victories and then get back to work.
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